Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Bill Houghton, cold today, Sebastopol, CA

>Wood glue's not spozed to be good for gap filling, so maybe not reliable in the long term. Plaster of paris? Fixall? In our recent kitchen teardown, we took out clumps of fixall that had been under a (heavily, at times*) vibrating washer and dryer, and they were still solid as the rock fixall attempts to imitate. A thin mix of fixall, surely available cheap at your local hardware store, might be worth trying. Fixall also sets up slower than plaster of paris, so I think I've just talked myself around to a recommended approach.

*there's nothing quite like children for endurance testing a house.

Maybe fixall?

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>When we did our kitchen teardown, I removed chunks of fixall that had spent 25 or more years under a vibrating washer and dryer - heavily so, at times (nothing like kids to do endurance tests on houses). I've never tried mixing fishing sinkers into fixall, but you might experiment with that - cheap, in large quantities, at most hardware stores.

Fixall

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Cheap, durable, sets up like stone. I've never tried mixing in fishing sinkers, so you should experiment, but it should work.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Edward in Vancouver

>Just plain old sand. Filled in as much shot-gun lead as I could , then poured in some sand, tapped it down, came back next day and filled a little more, etc. etc.

Silicone caulk

Bob Hackett

>

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

john l. blue

>Why not just dig up a 5 or 6 " diameter Dogwood tree and use that

knurled underground root as a mallet, heavy enough, lasts forever.

Blue

Fixall?

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I don't know whether fixall could be mixed thin enough to serve, but it's pretty sturdy once it sets up - does a good job of imitating rock. There are also some hydraulic cements and such that mix somewhat thinner. Any of these should be available, fairly cheap for a quantity, at your local hardware store.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Phil Joines Krum, Tx

>If there are large voids to fill I don't think regular glue would dry in any reasonable amount of time. I use whatever epoxy the hardware store has with #9 lead shot. Haven't had any problems with the 6 or so I've made.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Ellis Walentine

>I wonder why people are having trouble responding to this post?

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Ellis Walentine

>Epoxy should do the trick.

Ellis

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Ellis Walentine

>Test.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

ThomD

>I'd say epoxy is your best bet. Wood glue is watery, in most instances. You want something that is 100% solids, so the escaping water doesn't wreck havock with your head. You don't need a woodcraft for epoxy. A marine store is better, or just any od hardware store. You can occupy volume in there with all kinds of trash from cork to hard foam to marbles, blocks of wood, stone. Anything you judge is stable and will reduce the amount of glue you need to mix in. Sawdust is great if your epoxy is liquid enough, but it overly dries out the stuff that comes in a tube. The stuff that comes in a tube is fine for filling your cavity, it is not wonderful, in all brands, for gluing up parts. There the top choice would be boatbuilding epoxies, or maybe golf shafting epoxies, aircraft, whatever.

I can't see a real problem in your case, but as a general principle epoxy gives off heat, and too large a glob of it cantained, can catch on fire. I just mention this should anyone decide to scale this up for a much larger project. The insertion of "trash" can break up the heat concentrations.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Phil Joines Krum, Tx

>I use whatever epoxy the hardware store has in stock with #9 lead shot. I've made half a dozen with no problems. Regular wood glues probably wouldn't dry in a reasonable time if you have large voids to fill.

The Virtues of E6000

Bill Tindall, E.TN

>E6000 Industrial adhesive/sealant (Goop is the consumer equivalent) is the Duct tape of adhesives. It would do well for this need and a multitude of others. It sticks better than silicone and partial tubes last for years if resealed with the cap. Like Duct tape it is something I always have on hand.

Nuts

Warren in Lancaster, Pa

>I think it is nuts to put extra weight in a mallet. Just last month Jack Guzman was complaining of tender elbow from mortising. Speed in joinery comes from technique, not from brute force.

Generally any wood that can hold up to the pounding is heavy enough for a mallet. I have used a dogwood joiners mallet since 1979 making thousands of mortices in anything from pine frames to heavy timber. I currently use a persimmon mallet for carving. Both were harvested locally. Other suitable local woods include Osage orange, Hophornbeam, Hornbeam, Mulberry, Apple, Beech, Hard maple, etc. If you put your epoxy money toward a block of exotic wood I think you would be better off as well.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown, PA

>Oh yeah, I've used it before and I know about the heat. Can melt some plastics if you use too much. I won't be using large quantities on this, just enough to lock the weight in place.

Re: The Virtues of E6000

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown, PA

>Hmm, I was wondering about something like caulk, or even liquid nails. Easier to apply, lasts forever and you get a lot for a little money. Seems like a good idea and I only need a quick trip to the store for some. Cleans up rather easy, too.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown, PA

>Thanks for the replies. As is the case with many problems, a little time to think about and some other ideas yield a lot of good information. I had left a very rough day at work and planned to glue up the heads last night. When the epoxy in the tube wouldn't squeeze out or mix well it just frustrated me. This morning, I had the idea that I was thinking all wrong too. I was filling the heads with weight and figuring that I could put something on top of it that would work it's way in. Expoxy is generall too thick for that, as are caulks and such. Now, as I smack my head in dumb dumbness, I think "hey, put a layer down, some weight, another layer, some weight. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Moral of the story, let go of your day job stress before hitting the shop.

Thanks again, I'll put some pictures up when I'm done.

Re: Sealing weight into a joiners mallet

Stephen Shepherd in the State of Deseret

>I agree with Warren, get a heavy piece of wood, saves time and money.

I have made weighted mallets for other people and I simply drill a large hole, add some keyways and fill it with melted lead, pewter or tin. They melt at a lower temperature than wood catches on fire. There is a bit of scorching but it will never come out. When the mallet breaks and that happens from time to time, the wood can be burned or broken away and the heavy metal reused.

Use caution when working with lead for obvious reasons.

Stephen

Fixall, plaster of paris, or cement?

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Any of these, which should be available at your local hardware store, and are fairly cheap, would be worth experimenting with. It might be hard to mix Fixall thin enough - don't know, never tried it - but they should all be pretty durable.

By "cement," I mean any of the several varieties of quick-setting cement used in concrete repairs and anchoring bolts before the advent of the modern epoxy anchoring systems. "Rockite" is one brand name.

Re: Fixall, plaster of paris, or cement?

Glenn Madsen near San Francisco

>Should be able to get Fixall thin enough. We always did when using it for home repair - leveling floors, etc. Good stuff. Almost as useful as duck tape.

But I don't know that it would stand up to percussive shock over time all that well. I'd look for something with more plasticity to it. Like hardware store epoxy mix in those little tubes, maybe. ;-)

Walentine?

Paul Kierstead

>Any wascally wabbits around?